Police were Saturday forced to fire in the air at State House Director of Digital Communications Dennis Itumbi's birthday party, where street children had been brought onboard in a ceremony dubbed 'Chapati Forum', held at the Moi Avenue Primary School, Nairobi.
Street children turned up in high numbers than expected, and when time to feast came, they turned rowdy and fought for food forcing police at the venue to shoot in a bid to save the situation.
The children pushed and shoved each other in order to get the free meal of chapati, beef stew and pilau.
At some point, they hurled crude objects all over the place with some people reportedly sustaining minor injuries, that were treated by a team of Kenya Red Cross staff at the event.
Central OCPD Paul Wanjama stated that police had anticipated the chaos and planned for it.
“There were a lot of officers at the location and the disturbances were nothing out of the ordinary,” he told the Nation.
Several classes at the school that were being used as stores had their window panes shattered as the street children who had not had enough forced their way in, prompting the police to disperse the crowd.
Mr Itumbi, however, remains upbeat that the event was a big success, indicating that the 'Chapati Forum' would be a bi-monthly event that will be held in all 47 counties.
“After today’s event we will compile a report to ensure that all challenges encountered are solved. Because of the diversity of those who attended, we are confident some of the solutions will be arrived at instantly,” he stated.
Nonetheless, prior to the chaos, the street children were treated to sumptuous meals, clean shaves, good clothing, medical attention, music and dance.
The Itumbi-led event is aimed at sharing a meal and identifying problems facing the street families, as well as seek for lasting solutions.
Watch Video Courtesy of NTV
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